


Joining Forces

by Brumeier



Series: Bite Sized Fic [127]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Addiction, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Blood Drinking, First Meetings, M/M, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2018-09-13 07:15:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9112309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brumeier/pseuds/Brumeier
Summary: LJ Comment Fic for Sweet Sensation prompt:Any, any vampire (AU or canon), sensing someone's blood that's more delicious than anything they ever smelledIn which Crow, a half-vamp vampire hunter and alternate version of Rodney McKay, meets the John in his reality.





	

“I don’t want to kill you, John.”

Crow’s grip on his gun was unwavering, though he’d have preferred not to point it at a human. He didn’t know where his head was, letting John get the drop on him. It was a wonder Kaleb and his goons weren’t swarming out of the ramshackle farmhouse where Crow had tracked them.

“How do you know my name?” John asked suspiciously. He had his weapon out too, so they were in a standoff.

How to explain a duplicate from an alternate reality? Crow wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes. Hell, he’d talked to his own duplicate, who came from a place free of the vampire scourge. Lucky bastard.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” Crow took a chance that one John Sheppard would be fundamentally the same as another and put up his gun.

“I can’t just let you go,” John said. He kept his gun level with Crow’s chest. “Kaleb doesn’t need any more backup.”

A flush of anger moved through Crow at the mention of his adversary’s name, and he flicked his gaze over to the farmhouse, just barely visible due to distance and dusk having fallen. “You think I’m here to back him up?”

“You’re one of them.” An interesting expression crossed John’s face, a mix of disgust and something that might have been desire. Or desperation.

Crow bristled, and he had to fight the urge to shoot John just to get him out of the way. “I’m _not_ one of them.”

“Your fangs say otherwise.”

“I don’t need to explain myself to a hunter,” Crow said, and put as much disdain in his voice as he could. 

Hunters were amateurs, more often than not getting in the way of the slayers and exterminators who actually knew how to put a nest of vampires down without getting themselves killed or turned. Crow didn’t know what motivated John Sheppard to hunt vampires, and he didn’t care. All that mattered was getting Kaleb.

“Then I guess the time for talk is over.” John’s finger tightened on the trigger, but before he could pull it – and presumably he was smart enough to have silver-tipped bullets in there or he had no chance of putting Crow down – there was movement around them and Crow’s nostrils flared. 

Vampires. A lot of them. And Kaleb himself, stepping out of the shadows. He was dressed like a hipster, the dark-framed glasses pure affectation. He looked about as threatening as an English teacher until a person took a good look at his eyes, which were hard and unforgiving and laced with madness.

“Crow,” he said. “You finally found me. And you brought a snack, how gracious of you.”

John made a surprised sound but Crow didn’t spare him a look. He was too focused on Kaleb, and listening to the other vamps moving to surround them. He had them right where he wanted them.

“I’ve come to usher you into the afterlife,” he said. “If there is one for _things_ like you.”

“Is this about Jeannie?” Kaleb rocked back on his heels, hands in his pockets like he didn’t have a care in the world. “You really know how to hold a grudge.”

“Don’t you fucking say her name!” Crow shouted. He wanted to rip Kaleb’s smirking head from his shoulders, if only he’d have the chance.

“Tsk. So angry. Just think, if she’d done the job right the three of us could be best of friends right now. Instead, I have to kill you.”

“If you think you can,” Crow taunted, trying to regain his equilibrium. He only had one shot at taking Kaleb and his vamps down, and he didn’t want to waste it.

The other vamps moved in, and Crow found himself fighting back to back with John, who’d only moments before been ready to kill him. He was holding his own, too, which was more than a little surprising. 

“I hope to hell you have some kind of plan!” John barked over his shoulder.

Crow did have a plan. He was waiting for Kaleb to get within range, waiting for the bloodlust in his eyes to draw him closer. The lack of gunfire seemed to indicate that John was using some other weapon: silver knife, maybe, or a stake. Crow was using only his hands, and his half-vamp super-strength, to grapple with Kaleb’s vamps.

And then the moment was on him.

Kaleb moved to join the fray. Crow threw the vamp he was grappling with, and pulled the UV grenades out of his pockets. They were small, but powerful enough for what he needed. He used his thumbs to depress the ignition switches.

“For Jeannie, bloodsucker!” Crow shouted at Kaleb.

“What are you –?”

John didn’t get to finish his question. The grenades went off and the vamps started to scream, and the pain was incredible but Crow still looked for Kaleb. Before he succumbed to the burn he managed a twisted smile at the sight of his adversary clawing at his own face.

Fucking vampire.

*o*o*o*

There was something at the edge of Crow’s awareness. A scent. Something he’d never encountered before. It smelled…delicious. Rich, complex, stronger than coffee and sweeter than chocolate.

Something else was there, too. A sense of pain, dulled and muted but with the promise of sharp agonies.

And then the scent was joined by taste, and it pushed everything else away. Crow had just enough awareness to recognize it as blood, but not enough strength to refuse it even if he wanted to. Which he didn’t. It was warm, and silky, and tasted even better than it smelled.

He drank and drank, and drifted away feeling as if he were wrapped in a warm embrace.

*o*o*o*

Crow woke without pain, without burns. John was passed out next to him on the bed. He had no memory of being transported. The taste of blood lingered in his mouth – John’s? Someone else’s? – and he mentally cursed himself for allowing that to happen.

As a half vamp, Crow didn’t need to take blood to survive. And he didn’t suffer bloodlust. But blood would have kick-started the healing process for him. He’d been fully prepared to die in the name of vengeance.

“Wake up, you asshole.” Crow gave John a shove.

The human hunter rolled from his stomach to his side with a groan. His wrist was wrapped up in gauze.

“Oh. Hey,” he mumbled. He didn’t open his eyes, and seemed to drift right back to sleep again. How the hell much blood had he donated?

“John!” Crow shook his shoulder. “Wake up!”

There was no waking him up. Crow bit back his irritation and took a moment to study the human. He looked exactly like the alternate John, although a closer inspection showed some very familiar scarring at the bends of both of the man’s elbows. He’d been fed on by vamps. A lot. That was problematic.

While Crow waited for John to come out of his stupor he took a shower and got some take-out from the restaurant next door to the motel John had brought him to. He couldn’t begin to imagine why John had saved his life. And try as he might, Crow couldn’t feel anything but empty now that Kaleb was dead. That had been his goal for so long, but the satisfaction he’d expected to feel, the completeness…none of it was there.

Jeannie had been avenged, but nothing was going to bring her back.

When John finally woke up he was bleary-eyed and his hair was standing up even more than usual. He grinned goofily at Crow.

“Hey. You’re better.”

“What the hell did you think you were doing?” Crow snapped. “Giving me blood when I was in that condition? I could’ve killed you!”

John looked at his wrist, and when he looked back up his expression was shuttered. “You’re only a half vamp. You wouldn’t have killed me.”

“You don’t know that. Your blood…” Well, Crow didn’t know what to say about John’s blood. He remembered how sweet it smelled, how deep and rich and wonderful it tasted. He didn’t have much experience, hadn’t taken much blood since he’d been turned, and then only by necessity, but in general he found it disgusting. Like a mouthful of dirty pennies. John’s blood had been nothing like that, and Crow didn’t understand what that meant.

“My blood saved you, so you’re welcome.” John looked at the to-go box on the table. “What’s that?”

“Lunch. It’s a burger, so I hope you’re not a vegetarian.”

John was not a vegetarian. He fell on the burger like a starving man. Crow watched him eat, watched the play of muscles in his throat and his jaw, and realized with some surprise that he was attracted to John. When was the last time he’d been attracted to anyone?

Crow waited till John was done eating before asking the question that had been on his mind. “You want to tell me about those fang scars?”

John tossed his crumpled napkin on the table and crossed his arms defensively. “Nope.”

“You a fang banger, is that it? You get off on getting your blood sucked?” Crow had seen it before, though not often. Done right, the giving of blood to a vamp could be very sensual. Some humans got off on it. But mostly the vamps just drank their fill and moved on, leaving either a roofied victim behind who remembered nothing, or a dead body. They didn’t turn their victims as often as popular media would suggest.

John flushed. “I was held against my will. I didn’t ask for it.”

Crow had no reason to believe him, but he did. God help him, he did, and there was something at work between the two of them that scared the shit out of him.

“But you still want it. The bite.”

John ducked his head, rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah,” he said softly.

Crow sat down on the edge of the bed next to John, close enough that their legs were pressed together. Kaleb was dead, but there were more vamps out there ruining people’s lives. He’d have to build more grenades, which would take time. Maybe…maybe he didn’t have to do it alone.

“Why are you hunting vamps, John?”

John looked at his hands. “They took something from me. Made me into something I never wanted to be. I guess…I’m trying to get that piece of myself back.”

“I can relate.”

At that, John looked up at him and Crow could see the pain and longing in his eyes. How many feedings had there been before John needed them, before he was begging for the bite?

“Look,” Crow said. “Killing Kaleb was the only thing keeping me going the last couple of years. But the work isn’t done. I could use some help.”

“Can you make me stop wanting it?” John asked plaintively.

“I don’t know. But we can try to find a way. I know a guy, he’s a specialist in vamp lore. Maybe he can help us.”

John gave him an assessing look, and then he nodded. “Okay. I help you, you help me. Sounds like a good deal.”

Crow reached out to offer his hand at the same moment John leaned in and kissed him on the mouth.

“When do we get started?” John asked. He got up and headed for the bathroom.

Crow stared after him, disconcerted. He licked his lips, and just the hint of John he found there made him shiver in desire. It was probably some kind of metaphysical vamp shit, and hopefully Bobby could help out with that too, but for the moment all Crow could do was ogle John’s ass as he walked away.

“No time like the present,” he said.

**Author's Note:**

>  **AN:** Crow’s story was supposed to be a one-shot in this ‘verse, but then I saw the prompt and he was the first vamp I thought of. Plus, people wanted him to find his John.
> 
> This also fills the Bite square on my h/c bingo card.


End file.
